This brutal, melancholy oil-on-canvas painting of epic scenes between stags in the Scottish Highlands is one that Darwin knew, and most likely played into his own vision of life in the wild. Darwin even referred to a book on deer-stalking illustrated by Landseer.

The stags in this picture were described in verse as "mighty heroes of the mountainside." They symbolised the competitive struggle not only between animals but between humans, and its often tragic outcomes. Both lie dead, their antlers fatally entangled. The brightness of the day and the approaching scavengers - a fox and an eagle -typify the heartlessness of nature.